Launched in 2006, the Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program provides a pathway for community college students to transfer to and graduate from Carolina. It is just one way that the University is fulfilling its mission of providing greater access to higher education for all North Carolinians.
Discover Carolina
Opening the doors of higher education
As the nation’s first public university, Carolina is widely recognized as a leader in U.S. public higher education for its commitment to accessibility and affordability. For nearly two decades, the U.S. News & World Report has named Carolina the No. 1 public institution for value. The University is dedicated to pioneering initiatives to make college more affordable, keep costs low for every student and create an environment that allows students from all walks of life to thrive in their academics and future endeavors.
By opening the doors for more North Carolinians to earn a college degree, we are strengthening our campus community and ensuring a bright future for our state.
We are passionately public, and our commitment as a university that is accessible and affordable to the people of North Carolina is unwavering.
C-STEP creates a pathway to Carolina 
For nearly 20 years, the groundbreaking Carolina Covenant initiative has been giving eligible students whose household income is less than 200% of the federal poverty level the opportunity to graduate from Carolina debt-free through a combination of grants, scholarships and a work-study job.
Carolina Covenant serves as a bridge to higher education 
The Blue Sky Scholars Program gives Carolina students from middle-income, North Carolina families scholarship support, work-study employment opportunities, supports for internship or study abroad opportunities, and access to academic, personal and career support.
Supporting middle-income families through the Blue Sky Scholars
University for all
She sees a future in optometry
A Blue Sky Scholarship helped junior Heather Norland follow her dream without taking on a financial burden.
Military Friendly Schools survey gives gold ranking to UNC-Chapel Hill
The designation puts Carolina in the top tier among universities for providing support for military-affiliated students.
Eligible NC families making below $80K to pay no tuition
To improve access and affordability for in-state residents, Carolina will cover tuition and mandatory fees for qualifying undergraduates.
Affording to learn, study and explore in Chapel Hill is only part of Carolina's commitment to access. We want Tar Heels to experience all that it means to be a college student and gain knowledge outside the classroom and around the world.
Our Global Guarantee is Carolina’s commitment that a global education — from study abroad to Collaborative Online International Learning courses to virtual global research and internships — is available to all students.
The Global Guarantee in action
Global Guarantee thrives as more students seek a global education
The Global Guarantee ensures that a variety of opportunities are available, such as study abroad, language and area studies, Collaborative Online International Learning courses, virtual global research and internships, on-campus global programs and events and globally oriented courses.
Carolina Global Launch
Carolina Global Launch enables first-year students to study abroad at a partner university during their fall semester and then enroll at Carolina in the spring. Through the program, students immerse themselves in a new culture, earn credits toward their Carolina degrees and get to know other new Tar Heels.
Tar Heel charts a unique global learning journey through Global Guarantee
Emma Sampson's passion for global education began at a young age. The now sophomore enrolled at UNC-Chapel Hill as a global studies major after she spent fall 2021 abroad in Granada, Spain, through Carolina Global Launch.
Tar Heels build language confidence with virtual reality
Tar Heels in this Advanced Arabic class use virtual reality to explore a virtual world with students in Morocco and Algeria in real-time to hone their language skills.
An engine of opportunity and discovery
As a university built for the people, Carolina is doing more than educating and preparing our next generation of leaders. It is working to make an impact on North Carolinians now.
Serving our state is at the core of the University’s mission.
Whether we’re working directly with communities to overcome challenges, translating research from the lab to communities or building better opportunities for all residents by creating jobs and bringing business to our state, Tar Heels at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are dedicated to improving the lives of all North Carolinians.
The future belongs to North Carolina. Every opportunity and every challenge in our country is reflected in our state. UNC-Chapel Hill is at the center of that future and serves as an engine of prosperity that will drive our state’s growth.
Interim Chancellor Lee H. Roberts
Serving the Tar Heel state,
driving our economy
Restoring a veteran’s honor
Students at the UNC School of Law’s Military and Veterans Law Clinic help veterans fight for upgrades or corrections in military discharges to make life-saving resources available to the former service members. For one North Carolina veteran, they restored all the honors he was owed — including his Purple Heart.
Portraits of Chapel Hill
Carolina’s more than 336,300 alumni live around the country and around the world, but some have stuck close to home, and their presence here has enriched the Carolina community. Get to know some of the Tar Heels whose businesses help make Chapel Hill one of the best college towns in the country.
The Tar Heel Bus Tour
The Tar Heel Bus Tour hit the road to strengthen the connections between the University and our state. With nearly 80 Carolina faculty members and senior administrators on two buses, the tour made 27 stops in 20 different North Carolina counties for participants to learn more about the pressing issues facing communities and to find new ways for Tar Heels in Chapel Hill to make a real-world difference for North Carolinians.
Making breakthroughs for North Carolinians
Research at Carolina
At Carolina, we’re also serving our state and the world by tackling tough challenges and accelerating new discoveries and solutions to emerging challenges through multidisciplinary teams of top scientists and students.
Tar Heels are finding cures and treatments for diseases, creating technologies and launching new industries to improve the lives of North Carolinians and people around the world.
Press the play button above to learn more
A classroom on the Core Sound
Proudly the University for North Carolina, Tar Heels are conducting research that makes an impact on communities in our state.
Carolina undergraduates studying in the UNC Institute for the Environment’s Morehead City Field Site worked with the National Park Service to study a new issue impacting the barrier islands of the Cape Lookout National Seashore. The students studied several ponds created by overwash from Hurricane Dorian in 2019 to help the park service understand the ponds’ ecology and make appropriate plans in the years ahead.
READDI, not reactive
For decades, scientists warned of the potential for a global coronavirus outbreak. But when SARS-CoV-2 emerged, no therapeutics, drugs, or vaccines were readily available. The Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative — founded by researchers at Carolina and the Structural Genomics Consortium — is not only finding solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic but also drugs and therapeutics for future viral outbreaks.
Research in action
Burdens of Paradise
A broad study looking at food and water insecurity in the Galápagos brings together a team of researchers to focus on an often-overlooked population. The project is a collaboration between researchers from UNC-Chapel Hill and Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), looking at how water and food insecurity on the islands have impacted health outcomes.
Moments of clarity
In the past, cochlear implants were employed in people with severe hearing loss, improving their ability to hear the conversations around them. But now, studies show that these devices offer benefits to patients with mild or moderate hearing loss.
MPA student uses research to increase food security
Anna Naples’ graduate research focuses on an area she’s extremely passionate about and, as a North Carolinian, one close to home: food insecurity. Using GIS, Naples built a map that showed the counties and areas in the state that needed more produce access. The Food Bank immediately used the data to aid three initiatives: the Pop-Up Market program, hospital partnerships and community health trends.